The printing of our most recent prototypes included a larger hinge and altering the curvature of the opener to better grasp the bottle lid. These models restricted to movement of the hinge to 90 degrees. The bottle openers functioned properly for the first test, but started to delaminate near the hinge restriction. Upon further testing the hing continued to weaken and delaminate further. Ultimately the hinge restriction failed and the opener was free to open to 180 degrees. Future parts will continue to see an increase in the size of the hinge parts.
Three different lip configurations were tested to see which were most effective at removing the bottle caps. Model 1 was the first basic lip that we designed. While this design worked, it required several attempts to open the bottle. Model 2 was a significant improvement as there was multiple points of contacts underneath the bottle cap. Model 3 never really worked as the lip was too thin and broke on the first use. Because all the parts were made of plastic, the bottle cap scratched up the surface quite a bit.
Model 1 Model 2 Model 3
CAD Model 1.
CAD Model 2
CAD Model 3
